Tristan Borges

Tristan Borges

Borges with Forge FC in 2024
Personal information
Full name	Tristan Daniel Borges
Date of birth	(1998-08-26) August 26, 1998 (age 26)
Place of birth	Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Height	1.70 m (5 ft 7 in)
Position(s)	Midfielder
Team information
Current team	Forge FC
Number	19
Youth career
2004–?	Vaughan SC
–2010	Kleinburg-Nobleton SC
2011–2015	West Toronto United
2015	Toronto FC
2016–2018	Heerenveen
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
2015	Toronto FC III		(6)
2018	Sigma FC	7	(1)
2019	Forge FC	25	(12)
2020–2022	OH Leuven	4	(0)
2021–2022	→ Forge FC (loan)	32	(8)
2022–	Forge FC	64	(10)
International career‡
2014–2015	Canada U17	6	(1)
2015–2017	Canada U20	3	(0)
2020	Canada	1	(0)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals, correct as of October 22, 2024 ‡ National team caps and goals, correct as of January 10, 2020

Tristan Daniel Borges (born August 26, 1998) is a Canadian professional soccer player who plays as a midfielder for Canadian Premier League club Forge FC.

Early life

Borges began playing youth soccer with Vaughan SC, later moving on to Kleinburg-Nobleton SC followed by West Toronto SC. ^[1] In 2015, he joined the Toronto FC Academy. ^[2] He is of Portuguese descent and holds a European passport. ^[3]

Playing career

Semi-professional and U21

In 2015, he played in League1 Ontario with Toronto FC III. He scored his first goal on July 4 against ANB Futbol. ^[4] Over the course of the season, he scored six goals. ^[5]

From early 2016 until summer 2018, Borges was a member of the youth academy of Dutch Eredivisie club SC Heerenveen where he played for the U21 team. ^{[6] [7] [2]}

After leaving Heerenveen in summer 2018, Borges returned to Canada and signed with League1 Ontario side Sigma FC in September of that year. ^[8]

Professional

On January 10, 2019, Borges signed his first professional contract with Canadian Premier League side Forge FC. He made his debut in the inaugural CPL match against York9 FC on April 27, 2019. ^[9] He scored the winning goal in the first leg of the CPL Finals, before being sent off. Forge appealed the red card to the Canadian Soccer Association and it was rescinded, allowing Borges to play in the second leg, which also ended in a 1–0 victory. ^[10] Borges was a standout in the CPL's inaugural season, winning the Golden Boot, with 13 goals, ^[11] and sharing in a six-way tie for most assists, with five. ^[12] In November 2019, Borges was announced as both the CPL Player of the Year and best Canadian U-21 player. ^[13]

On January 22, 2020, Borges was transferred to Belgian First Division B side Oud-Heverlee Leuven for a fee reported to be "between $300,000 and $500,000", signing a contract until summer 2022. ^{[14] [15] [16]} He made his debut on February 1 against Roeselare. ^[17]

On March 5, 2021, after receiving limited playing time for OH Leuven, Borges was loaned back to Forge FC for the 2021 Canadian Premier League season. ^[18] His loan was later extended in February 2022. ^{[19] [20]} Upon the expiry of his contract with Leuven and thus his Forge loan, he remained with Forge for the remainder of the season. ^[21] In October 2023, Borges helped Forge win their fourth league title, scoring an Olympico goal to seal a 2–1 win over Cavalry FC in the play-off final. ^[22] At the end of the 2024 season, he was named the 2024 CPL Player of the Year, becoming the first player to win the award twice. ^{[23] [24]}

International career

Youth

Borges received his first Canadian youth national team call-up in August 2014 for an under-17 friendly tournament in Mexico. ^[2] He participated in several other under-17 camps in the fall and winter of 2014–15 and was subsequently called up for the 2015 CONCACAF U-17 Championship. ^[2] Borges made six appearances in the tournament and scored Canada's lone goal in a 1–1 draw against Mexico. ^[2]

Beginning in September 2015, Borges participated in several under-20 team camps in the lead-up to the 2017 CONCACAF U-20 Championship. ^[2] At that tournament, he made three appearances for Canada and assisted on a goal in a 2–0 win over Antigua and Barbuda. ^[2]

In January 2018, Borges was called up for a Canadian under-23 camp in the United States. ^[2] In February 2020, Borges was named to the Canadian U-23 provisional roster for the 2020 CONCACAF Men's Olympic Qualifying Championship. ^[25]

Senior

In January 2020, Borges was called up to the Canadian senior team ahead of friendlies against Barbados and Iceland. ^[26] He made his debut as a substitute on January 10 against Barbados. ^[2]

Career statistics

As of October 22, 2024 ^[9]

Club statistics

Club	Season	League			Playoffs		National Cup [a]		Continental [b]		Total
		Division	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
Sigma FC	2018 [8]	League1 Ontario	7	1	3	1	—		—		10	2
Forge FC	2019	Canadian Premier League	25	12	2	1	2	0	4	0	33	13
OH Leuven	2019–20	Belgian First Division B	4	0	—		0	0	—		4	0
	2020–21	Belgian First Division A	0	0	—		0	0	—		0	0
Forge FC (on loan)	2021	Canadian Premier League	24	3	2	0	2	0	6	1	34	4
	2022		8	5	—		3 [c]	0	2	0	13	5
Forge FC			15	1	2	0	—		—		17	1
	2023		26	1	1	1	3	0	—		30	2
	2024		23	8	0	0	5	0	2	0	30	8
	Total		96	18	5	1	13	0	10	1	124	20
Career total			132	31	10	3	15	0	14	1	171	35

1. Includes appearances in the Canadian Championship
2. Includes appearances in CONCACAF League and CONCACAF Champions League
3. Includes appearance in the 2020 Canadian Championship final (played in 2022).

Canada National Team

Year	Apps	Goals
2020	1	0

Honours

Forge FC

• Canadian Premier League: 2019, 2022, 2023

Individual

• Canadian Premier League Golden Boot: 2019
• Canadian Premier League Player of the Year: 2019, 2024
• Canadian Premier League Best U21 Canadian Player of the Year: 2019

References

1. Lee, Kendra (October 17, 2015). "Get To Know A National Team Player: Tristan Borges". Canadian Soccer News.
2. "Tristan Borges". Canadian Soccer Association . Retrieved November 8, 2023.
3. "Forge FC sells star MF Borges to Belgian team - TSN.ca". TSN. The Canadian Press. January 22, 2020.
4. "ANB Futbol 3 - Toronto FC Academy 1". League1 Ontario . July 6, 2015.
5. "Scoring Leaders". League1 Ontario . Archived from the original on January 15, 2016.
6. Neil Davidson (March 16, 2016). "Alphonso Davies joins Canada's U-20 soccer team". CBC. Retrieved April 28, 2019.
7. "Forge FC signs former SC Heerenveen and Canada youth player Tristan Borges". Canadian Premier League. January 10, 2019. Retrieved April 28, 2019.
8. "Tristan Borges 2018 L1O Stats". League1 Ontario. Retrieved April 28, 2019.
9. "Tristan Borges". Soccerway. Retrieved April 28, 2019.
10. "Forge FC's Tristan Borges wins appeal, will play 2nd leg of final - Sportsnet.ca". www.sportsnet.ca. Retrieved November 4, 2019.
11. Thompson, Marty (November 2, 2019). "Tristan Borges seals CPL Golden Boot in Leg 2 of Finals 2019". Canadian Premier League. Retrieved November 3, 2019.
12. "League Leaders". Canadian Premier League. Retrieved November 3, 2019.
13. "Forge FC's Tristan Borges wins CPL's Player of the Year award". Canadian Premier League. November 26, 2019. Retrieved November 27, 2019.
14. "Borges Transferred to OH Leuven". Forge FC. January 22, 2020. Retrieved January 22, 2020.
15. "OHL strikt Canadees toptalent" (in Dutch). OH Leuven. January 22, 2020. Retrieved January 22, 2020.
16. "Forge FC's Tristan Borges sold to Belgian club in historic transfer (EN/FR)". Canadian Premier League. January 22, 2020. Retrieved February 11, 2023.
17. "Mercier dirigeert OHL naar thuisoverwinning". February 1, 2020.
18. "Forge FC acquires Borges on loan from OH Leuven". Forge FC. March 5, 2021. Retrieved March 5, 2021.
19. "Forge FC extends loan of standout attacker Borges". Forge FC. February 14, 2022. Retrieved April 21, 2022.
20. Jacques, John (February 14, 2022). "Borges Is Back: Forge Secures Loan Extension". Northern Tribune.
21. Jacques, John (July 3, 2022). "'Actions Speak Louder Than Words': Borges Confident In Forge Rise". Northern Tribune.
22. Wharnsby, Tim (October 28, 2023). "Borges scores 'Olimpico' goal as Forge FC completes comeback to win 4th CPL title". CBC Sports . Retrieved October 29, 2023.
23. O'Connor-Clarke, Charlie (November 7, 2024). "Forge FC midfielder Tristan Borges named 2024 CPL Player of the Year". Canadian Premier League .
24. Milton, Steve (November 8, 2024). "Borges first repeat Player of Year; Smyrniotis finally named coach of the year; Poku chosen top U-21". Forge FC .
25. "Canada Soccer announces Provisional List for Concacaf Men's Olympic Qualifying". Canada Soccer. February 26, 2020. Retrieved February 26, 2020.
26. Jacques, John (January 3, 2020). "Tristan Borges Called Up To Canada National Team Ahead Of Three Friendlies".

External links

• Tristan Borges at the Canadian Soccer Association
• Tristan Borges at Soccerway